


Dream of Ivy Covered Walls and Smokey French Cafés

by TheSadisticMunchkin



Series: 30 days of AUs you never thought you needed challenge [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: 30 Days of Writing, Alternate Universe - College/University, College Student Castiel, College Student Dean, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, University of Kansas, college tour, very brief mention of a summer romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-21 14:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3695030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSadisticMunchkin/pseuds/TheSadisticMunchkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Going to college was never really an option for Dean but going on the tour may have changed his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dream of Ivy Covered Walls and Smokey French Cafés

**Author's Note:**

> I actually kind of liked this one too. I dont' know. I'm a sucker for fluff. Also the title I got from Heathers The Musical. (Bring it to Broadway pls omg)

           Growing up, Dean never truly thought about himself. There was always taking care of mom when dad wasn’t home. Even when he was too young to understand why dad didn’t come home when mom was crying. Then along came Sam and he had to be a big brother. He had to teach the kid all the things a big brother was supposed to teach and more. It was never himself. It was never just him.

 

            He knew that he was too hopeless. Sam was the gifted child. Sam was the one with the brains and the brawns. He was the rebellious kid who punched police officers whenever they get too close to his baby brother. He had a track record while Sammy’s was clean. His parents never had plans for him to go to a recognized Ivy League school and become someone successful.

 

            He was just destined to be a mechanic and Dean was okay with that. Cars were a constant thing in his life besides taking care of people, especially Sam and his mom. School was never really for him. School expected him to follow orders and get good grades. That wasn’t Dean Winchester. So when Sam came up to his room the summer before senior year and dumped a fuck load of pamphlets on his lap, he almost hissed at the sight.

 

            The pamphlets were all of universities and colleges, Ivy League or regular, it was all there. Every single pamphlet were on colleges within the United States. “What the hell is all of this, Sammy?” he sat up in his bed, unintentionally crumpling some of the other retched pamphlets by his feet. “Options, Dean. They’re options.” Now Sam was just talking a load of crazy.

 

            “Options for what?” Sam rolled his eyes in exasperation, taking some of the pamphlets that fell on the floor and shoved them in his face. “Options for college, Dean. You haven’t considered applying for anything yet.” So this was what it was all about. Dean only glared at his younger brother then, picking up his jostled headphones from around his neck and putting them back on. Once the sweet sound of AC/DC filled his ears, they were ripped off again.

 

            “Dean this is serious. I may be only fourteen but I understand the importance of actually getting a college education.” He decided to indulge his little brother on this “issue” when he sat on one of the stools in the room. “I could never qualify for any of these colleges, Sammy. You know that.” He picked through some of the Ivy League pamphlets, frowning at the smiling faces that looked up at him from the covers.

 

            “Yes you will if you work hard to pull up your History and English grade! You’re really smart Dean, I know you don’t see that but you are. I don’t want to see potential talent wasted.” Sam’s shoulders deflated when Dean still didn’t look convinced. He scooted closer on the stool to the edge of Dean’s bed. His older brother was leafing through the other regular colleges and pursing his lips silently.

 

            When Dean finally looked up, Sam was looking at him with those huge, brown puppy dog eyes that he _knows_ will get him to do whatever he wants. The little rascal knew which exact buttons to push with him. “If I apply to 3 colleges, will you leave me alone with my classic rock and porn?” Sam’s smile lit up the room and Dean had to admit that he liked making Sam happy. Sam’s smile was the reason he even tries.

 

            “3 colleges. I’ll have mom help and everything. This is so exciting, Dean! I’m proud of you, big brother!” Sam then launched himself into his brother’s arms and Dean instinctively tightened his hold around him. Maybe going to college wasn’t going to be so bad. If Sammy were to look at him like he _wasn’t_ the failure of the family but instead like a hero, he would apply to one hundred colleges if he had to.

 

            He sat there with his baby brother in his arms, actually looking forward to doing something that really wasn’t for Sam but for himself.

 

            And he was fucking terrified.

* * *

            Mom and dad dropped him off to his first choice college a few weeks later for the summer tour:  _University of Kansas._ He checked the Wikipedia page and read the pamphlet a few hundred times and it convinced him to jot it down as his first choice. He chose it because one it was close to home and two it actually had a neat academic profile. To think that he would be looking into something like that.

 

            “All potential freshmen here for the summer tour please register just in front of the Fraser building please! Your tour will start in 30 minutes!” A man with a megaphone passed by him, repeating that same message even until Dean was lining up at the registration. Since he was still a bit far from the table, he let himself take a quick look at the campus that surrounded him. He had to admit that this campus was pretty cool.

 

            A vibration in his jacket took him out of his thoughts and he shoved his hand into his pocket to check who texted him. He smiled when he saw Sammy’s little encouraging text, replying to him that he was almost registered. By the time that he sent the text, he was already two people away from registry. When he finally got his name written on a piece of paper and gotten a few more informational pamphlets, he was directed to another group of students.

 

            “Welcome everyone to University of Kansas, the school where you will gain the _knowledge for life_! I’m Hael and I will be your tour guide for the day…” Blah blah blah was all Dean could hear when the tour guide lady started talking about the history of the place. He didn’t care about the history, he wanted to see the buildings, the libraries, the actual places where they teach the courses.

 

            “Are there any questions before we start?” Hael asked and the group remained silent which gave Dean a small deal of entertainment when she continued to smile but her eye twitched only momentarily. Maybe he wasn’t the only one not actually listening to the history lesson. “Okay then… Let’s start with none other than the Fraser building.”

 

            Soon enough the tour had to stop for lunchtime and Dean found another dilemma. He didn’t know where he was going to sit. They were directed to the quad, letting them on their merry way. Some went to buy food at the stalls while others brought packed lunch. Dean was one of the latter but he found it difficult to find a place to sit when all the other tour groups already occupied most of the quad.

 

            He walked around the grounds, trying to spot a stone bench or even a patch of grass away from the rest of the people but so far nothing. The closest thing he could find that was even close to privacy was a little stone table that was occupied by another person. It was a good distance away from the other students but close enough so the tour guides could still see them. The table next to it housed a make-out session.

 

            So Dean knew which one he was going to as he clutched the zip-lock bag of sandwiches and trail mix in his hands. He approached the table with the single student sitting in it, his dark hair and tan skin becoming more prominent with each step he took. When he got close enough he cleared his throat and the person looked up at him with wide, blue, very blue, eyes.

 

            “Sorry to bother you but I don’t really want to interrupt the little love session next door so do you mind if I sit here?” Blue eyes glanced briefly at the two teenagers who were borderline groping each other and he gestured to the seat next to him. “I don’t mind.” He said and damn was his voice raspy. Dean thought his voice was deep and gravelly but he’s clearly beat by this guy.

 

            He flashed him a charming smile before taking the seat next to him and opening his zip-lock. “So how are you liking the tour?” The boy shrugged his shoulders, letting out a noise of indifference. “It’s okay. I don’t know if it’s the school for me though.” Dean raised an eyebrow, letting go of the sandwich that he was just about to take out from his zip-lock. “What do you mean?”

 

            “Well… It’s a school far away from my home and though it’s offers are lovely, there are Ivy League schools that could give me more.” So this guy was one of those honor students. Dean used to sneer at nerds like him but having a brother like Sam could really tone him down. “I can’t qualify for Ivy League.” He suddenly said and shit this guy was now judging him, just great. The guy squinted his eyes at him and tilted his head, which made Dean oddly uncomfortable.

 

            “Why don’t you qualify?”

 

            “Because I’ve never thought about college until two weeks ago.”

 

            There he said it to a complete stranger but all he did was smile in understanding. This confused Dean because why would he understand this problem? He was probably being offered scholarships in other schools but Dean has only ever thought of _applying_ to a school at all because Sammy said that he was proud of him. The things he does for his baby brother.

 

            “Did you feel hopeless? Like you were the failure of the family?” Dean looked at him suspiciously, slowly nodding his head up and down. “How did you know that?” he asked quietly even though he knows the humping rabbits in the next table could care less what they’re talking about. “Because my family forces me to follow their plan.” Dean’s eyes sparkled in curiosity at that and he scooted closer to this boy.

 

            “What kind of plan?”

 

            Then the dark haired boy started talking about his story. He talked about his bible thumping parents, the brothers and sisters who left him so early on in his life, how his parents drilled into his brain that he was the last hope of restoring the family but he never thought he satisfied them. Dean found himself reaching out to this boy because they were so alike yet they weren’t. If this guy was the last hope of the family then Dean was no hope at all. They didn’t even tell him to apply to any college.

 

            He was next in telling his story. The boy hung on to every word as he did, his blue eyes calculating but curious. Dean was soon full on blurting out whatever came to mind because somebody was willing to listen to him other than his brother. “Sammy pushed me into doing this and I got to say I’m actually happy that he did.” Before the boy could ask him, the tour guide started talking into the megaphone, which means that the tour was starting up again.

 

            “That’s our cue.” Dean said, staring at the zip-lock that he completely forgot about in front of him. “It seems so.” Dean stared at the blue-eyed teenager, fiddling with the corners of his zip-lock bag. “Hey, I know it sounds crazy but uh would you like to walk around the campus together during the tour? It gets kind of lonely and I don’t have anyone to tell my jokes about the tour guide’s sweater to.” Weirdly enough the guy chuckled and Dean couldn’t help but smile at him.

 

            “I’m Castiel and I’d love to walk with you.”

 

            “I’m Dean and we got to go or Hael will probably twitch her eye if we’re late.”

* * *

 

            Jesus how many buildings did this place have? Dean scratched his head as he stared at the not so helpful map of the school to get to the Marvin Hall. Man if this was the main building of the school then why the hell was it hard to track down? Dean was just about to give in and ask for directions when he accidentally bumped into someone and their books spilled all over the ground.

 

            “Oh my god, I’m sorry. Let me help you with that.” He quickly picked up the books the stranger hadn’t gotten yet and he put on what he hoped was his most charming smile to apologize. When he looked up, his eyes widened significantly and his charming smile turned into a pleasantly surprised one. The stranger with the books smiled back at him but he wasn’t a stranger at all. “Cas?”

 

            “Hello Dean.” The only thing stopping him from hugging the crap out of the guy was because of the heavy ass books in his arms. “Son of a bitch, you chose KU?” Castiel directed his gaze to the ground shyly, a light dust of blush gracing his cheeks. Dean shifted the books in his arms, tilting his head down to meet Cas’ eye. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you were going to go to Harvard or something.”

 

            “Something or someone may have changed my mind.” Cas said rather swiftly, the words almost indecipherable but Dean was able to understand. It was his turn to blush though and Cas could only offer another shy smile up at him. That smile took Dean back to the last year. The exchanged phone numbers, the late nights listening to Cas about his day, the night he cried on the phone when dad and mom finally got a divorce before graduation,

 

            The night he accidentally said that he loved him.

 

            He thought he screwed up that night. He thought he screwed up bad because he told the only guy he ever felt something with that he was in love with him. Instead, Cas remained silent on the line until he swore he heard a chuckle that made Dean’s stomach flutter. Cas told him that he loved him too and he would never admit to anybody that he was soaring above the clouds that night.

 

            “I thought this place didn’t offer as much as the other schools.” Cas bit his lip and it took Dean not to stare too long at the action. After a few seconds, he looked up and gave Dean a smile that made him feel like they were the only ones here. “The other schools didn’t have you.” Now that god damn mouth is being licked nervously and Dean was sure his heart stopped beating for a second.

 

            He stared at Cas, almost forgetting about the books in his arms still. He put them down, took the ones in Cas’ hold and placed them on the ground as well. “Dean what are you doing?” Dean placed his rough hands on Cas’ cheeks, leaning ever closer with a smirk that made Cas gulp. “Something I should have drove all the way to your house for the minute you said you loved me back.”

 

            “Dean…” but whatever he was about to say was cut off by the brush of Dean’s lips against his. He grinned against those lips he has wanted to taste since that night. The whistles and cheers were mere murmurs in their ears as they got lost in each other’s hold. Cas clutched on to the lapels of Dean’s leather jacket and Dean buried his hands in Cas’ dark, messy hair.

 

            Maybe they heard the bell. Maybe they were kind of late to their first class but at this moment neither of them cared. When they finally pulled away, Cas’ face flushed adorably with pink and Dean’s lips kiss swollen, Dean couldn’t help but thank Sammy for dumping those pamphlets on him a year ago. He was thankful that he thought about himself for once. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be standing in the middle of the grounds with the red faced boy he met on the college tour.

 

            Maybe they weren’t hopeless after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I laughed, I cried, I puked in my mouth a little but it was beautiful.


End file.
